February 28, 2017 – MRI Biopsy

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Anchor lead: Does using MRI improve prostate biopsies? Elizabeth Tracey reports

Using both ultrasound and MRI images, a new study reports that improved rates of detecting more serious prostate cancer are possible. William Nelson, director of the Kimmel Cancer Center at Johns Hopkins, describes the method.

Nelson: This approach, by aiming at abnormalities on the magnetic resonance image, using a fused image strategy, you would be better able to assess whether high grade, dangerous cancer is present. :12

Nelson says many more men will be able to access this approach.

Nelson: The technology is becoming more broadly accessible and more used across the country. The cost of getting a magnetic resonance image in addition to the ultrasound biopsy is greater. I don’t know whether avoiding a second or a third biopsy procedure does that make it more cost-effective? :17

Nelson says that being able to find the more serious cancers that require treatment against the large number of cancers that can be safely watched is the hope, and that would clearly be cost-effective as well as less onerous for patients. At Johns Hopkins, I’m Elizabeth Tracey.